Black Mesa (video game)
' | genre = First-person shooter | modes = Single-player, multiplayer | director = | producer = | designer = | programmer = | artist = | composer = Joel Nielsen }} 'Black Mesa' (stylized as 'BLλCK MESA) is a first-person shooter video game, developed and published by Crowbar Collective. It is a third-party remake of Half-Life (1998), and was originally released as a free modification (then titled ''Black Mesa: Source''') for ''Half-Life 2 September 14, 2012. It received a standalone commercial release through Steam Early Access on May 5, 2015, with a full release slated for Q2 2019. The gameplay of Black Mesa is reminiscent to that of the original game: the player controls Gordon Freeman, a scientist at the titular research facility in New Mexico, as he navigates through the complex after a botched experiment, with nearly uninterrupted control of the character. The main differences include an entirely reskinned collection of textures, models, and NPCs, a noticeably longer runtime, and additional dialogue and story elements. The initial release excludes the "Xen" chapters from the original game, but was announced for release in Q2 2019. The project was initially announced in 2005, shortly after the release of the Source engine port of the original game, and entered development in 2008. Over the course of its nearly decade long development cycle, the game has been overhauled several times, including redesigns of several components and effects, as well as an added multiplayer mode. It has been featured in several video game publications, including direct attention from Valve Corporation themselves. Due to its long development time, the modification became notable for its delays and dwindling updates on the status of its completion. Black Mesa received highly positive reviews from critics upon its initial release, despite not being in a complete state. Praise was directed towards the gameplay and attention to detail, comparing it to that of an official Valve release. Due to its several delays, Wired included the game on their "Vaporware of the Year" lists in 2009 and 2010. Gameplay Black Mesa is a first-person shooter that requires the player to perform combat tasks and puzzle solving to advance through the game. The core gameplay remains unchanged from the original Half-Life; the player can carry a number of weapons that they find through the course of the game, though they must also locate ammunition for most weapons. The player's character is protected by a hazard suit that monitors the player's health and can be charged as a shield, absorbing a limited amount of damage. Health and battery packs can be found scattered through the game, as well as stations that can recharge either health or suit charge. Plot The plot of Black Mesa is almost identical to Half-Life's storyline, playable through the "Lambda Core" chapter. As in the original game, the player controls Gordon Freeman, a scientist working at the Black Mesa Research Facility. He is tasked to place a sample of a strange material into an electromagnetic instrument, using the Hazardous Environment Suit Mark IV to do so safely. However, the sample material causes a "resonance cascade", devastating the facility and creating an interdimensional rift to an alien dimension called Xen, bringing its alien creatures to Earth. Freeman survives, finds other survivors, and makes his way to the surface with the protection of his hazard suit to get help. Upon reaching the surface, however, he finds that the facility is being cleansed of any living thing - human or alien - by armed forces. From other scientists, Freeman finds the only way to stop the alien invasion is to cross over to Xen and destroy the entity holding the portal open. Development With the release of Half-Life 2 in 2004, Valve re-released several of its previous titles, ported to their new Source game engine, including the critically acclaimed 1998 game Half-Life named Half-Life: Source. The Source engine is graphically more advanced than the GoldSrc engine used for the original versions. Half-Life: Source features the Havok physics engine and improved effects for water and lighting. The level architecture, textures, and models of the game however, remained unchanged. Half-Life: Source was met with mixed reviews. IGN liked the new user interface and other technical features but noted that it did not receive as many improvements as Valve's other Source engine ports. GameSpy said that while it was a "fun little bonus", it was "certainly not the major graphical upgrade some people thought it might be". Valve's managing director Gabe Newell is quoted as saying that a complete remake of Half-Life by fans of the game using Source was "not only possible…but inevitable". Black Mesa began as the combination of two independent volunteer projects, each aiming to do just that: completely recreate Half-Life using Source. The Leakfree modification was announced in September 2004. Half-Life: Source Overhaul Project was announced one month later. After realizing their similar goals, project leaders for both teams decided to combine efforts; they formed a new 13-person team titled Black Mesa: Source. The "Source" in the project's title was later dropped when Valve asked the team to remove it in order to "stem confusion over whether or not was an endorsed or official product", which it at the time was not. Originally based on the version of Source released with Counter-Strike: Source in 2004, the project switched to a more recent version released with Valve's The Orange Box in 2007. This new version included more advanced particle effects, hardware-accelerated facial animation, and support for multi-core processor rendering among other improvements. The team recently stated that they have moved Black Mesa to Valve's new 2013 version of Source, with faster load times and Mac OS X and Linux support as well as modifying it to be its own hybrid engine. The Black Mesa branch is a modified version of the Team Fortress 2 branch as well as having features from games like Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. On October 27, 2016, the first Black Mesa Linux client was released to the public. In addition to the modification itself, the game's thematic score, produced by sound designer Joel Nielsen, was independently released as a soundtrack in 2012. Marketing and release The developers released a teaser trailer in 2005, and a full-length preview trailer in 2008. They also released images, videos, and concept art during the project's development. Black Mesa was given an official release date of "late 2009" in the spring of 2009, but this date was changed to "when it's done" after the development team was unable to fulfill this date. On June 10, 2012, the Black Mesa development team announced that new "media" would be released once their Facebook page reached 20,000 likes. This goal was reached on June 11, 2012 when 8 new screenshots were released, along with an announcement of the start of a "social-media campaign" towards their first release. On September 2, 2012, project leader Carlos "cman2k" Montero announced that the first Black Mesa release would take place on September 14, 2012. The first section of Black Mesa was released on September 14, 2012, distributed as a free download. It has been confirmed that Black Mesa will also be distributed via Steam; the remake was among the first ten titles whose release on the platform was approved using Valve's crowdvoting service Steam Greenlight. The initial release consists of remakes of all Half-Life's chapters except those set on the alien world "Xen", which the team intends to expand for inclusion in a future release. The development team estimates that the initial release of Black Mesa gives players eight to ten hours of content to complete. In November 2013, the team confirmed they have been given the go-ahead from Valve to release a commercial version of the Black Mesa product via Steam. The team plans to use the additional funds to improve the game's implementation in Source and to include additional features; the free version will continue to be offered. Black Mesa was released on Steam's Early Access program for Windows and OS X on May 5, 2015, lacking the Xen sections as previously described. On October 27, 2016, the first beta client for Linux platforms was released to the public. The release of the Xen part of the game has been difficult, since the Black Mesa team wanted to redesign the levels to overcome their poor perception that they had in Half-Life s original release. The team said, "We want our version of Xen to feel like it really belongs with the rest of the game in terms of mechanics, cohesion and progression," while at the same time, they wanted "to push the boundaries and explore this unique and varied setting; to build an experience that feels both fresh and familiar to players from all walks of Half-Life veterancy." They have had to push the release of Xen off a few times; initially planned for a December 2017 release. On November 19, 2018 the first trailer for Black Mesa: Xen was released, with a release date for the second quarter of 2019. Updates On June 16, 2015, the first content update (version 0.1.0) for Black Mesa was released. It featured a new deathmatch map (dm_stack) and added a number of player models for the game's multiplayer component. It also fixed many bugs in both singleplayer and multiplayer. On December 22, 2015, version 0.2.0 was released, dubbed "The Crossfire Update." The update added a new multiplayer map (Crossfire), new weapon models, graphical improvements (god rays), localization improvements, steam controller support, and map balance updates across singleplayer and multiplayer. On May 15, 2016, version 0.3.0 was released, dubbed "The Surface Tension Update". The update integrates a popular mod, Surface Tension Uncut, into the game (the mod's developer, TextFAMGUY1, had previously been added to the development team). The new content adds about an hour of gameplay to the game. The update also adds high definition shadows (using Cascaded Shadow Maps), faster map load times, and translation support for 5 additional languages. As with previous updates, 0.3.0 additionally contains game balance and level design changes across singleplayer and multiplayer, as well as programming bug fixes. Notably the game's Artificial Intelligence was modified in singleplayer. Modifications In Surface Tension Uncut, an unofficial mod for Black Mesa, the Surface Tension chapter was expanded to include certain areas of the original game that were not released along with the remake, as the developer had left before his work was finished. The developer, Chon Kemp, known on the Black Mesa: Community Forums by the pseudonym TextFAMGUY1, also modified the On a Rail chapter to include the areas cut from Black Mesa, to make gameplay less tedious. Kemp was later hired by Crowbar Collective to remake Surface Tension Uncut for the Steam release, while the uncut version of On a Rail was published on Steam Workshop. Today, Kemp continues his work to finish the Xen chapters. Reception Pre-release During its development, Black Mesa has received attention from several video game publications. It has been featured in articles from Computer Gaming World, PC PowerPlay, and PC Gamer UK magazines. Valve published a news update about the modification on their Steam digital distribution platform in 2007 saying that "We're as eager to play [Black Mesa] here as everyone else." The project was awarded Top Unreleased Mod by video game modification website Mod DB in 2005 and 2006. Mod DB gave the project an honorable mention in their choice of Top Unreleased Mod in 2007. After receiving a development version of Black Mesa in December 2009, PC PowerPlay magazine said that the game's setting "looks, sounds, and plays better than ever before". The "subtle" changes from the original Half-Life were said to have a "substantial" overall impact. They also noted the project's "frustrating" then-five-year development time, and current lack of release date, but added that the developers were making progress. Initial release After the mod was released, early impressions of the game were very positive, receiving a score of 86/100 on Metacritic, based on nine reviews. The game was praised for its high polish, with many critics comparing its quality to that of an official Valve game. Destructoid praised the game for the improvements it made over the original Half-Life, saying it was "something that felt very familiar, also very fresh." Black Mesa won ModDB's Mod of the Year Award for 2012. In 2014 Black Mesa was named by PC Gamer among the "Ten top fan remade classics you can play for free right now". See also * List of video games derived from mods References External links * * Black Mesa at MobyGames Category:Early access video games Category:Fangames Category:First-person shooters Category:Half-Life (series) Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games Category:Science fiction video games Category:Source (game engine) mods Category:Steam Greenlight games Category:Steam Workshop games Category:Upcoming video games Category:Video game remakes Category:Video games set in the 2000s Category:Video games set in New Mexico Category:War video games set in the United States Category:Windows games